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A BMW X3 had become disabled and was stopped on the westbound Passaic River Bridge in Clifton when it was struck by a Subaru Impreza driven by Karen Garcia shortly before 5 a.m. last Thursday, Dec. 15.
Garcia's Impreza was then broadsided by an oncoming Toyota Prius, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Clifton Police Chief Thomas Rinaldi said in a joint release on Monday, Dec. 19.
Garcia, who was extricated by firefighters, was later pronounced dead at Hackensack University Medical Center, Valdes and Rinaldi said.
The Prius driver, Mario Cruz-Segovia, 39, of Union City, was treated at HUMC and later released, they said.
The driver of the BMW, a 53-year-old Staten Island man, wasn’t injured.
All westbound lanes were temporarily closed until at least noon as the wreckage was removed and an investigation involving the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and Clifton police was begun.
They found no wrongdoing on any of the survivors' parts. Rather, it was "an unfortunate chain of events that led to the accident," a law enforcement officer with direct knowledge of the crash said.
Traffic was detoured onto Route 21 at the border of Rutherford and Clifton.
A series of other nearby minor accidents occurred within a few hours of the initial crash, area police reported.
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